Private funding key for new nuclear deployment, EnergySec says

WASHINGTON – Advanced nuclear reactor development will be driven by private funding with the help of federal money, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said this week. 

Wright spoke before the House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee on Wednesday about the Department of Energy’s budget request highlighted in the fiscal year 2026 “skinny” budget. The skinny budget document lacked detailed funding tables. 

The proposed budget has a reduction of $408 million for DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Despite the proposed cut, Wright said the department is focusing on the nuclear power sector. The goal of the Donald Trump administration is to attract more money towards the nuclear sector, with a majority of it coming from private funding. 

Some federal funding for the nuclear project deployment will come from grants and loans, Wright said.  

“Our goal is to bring in tens of billions of dollars during this administration in private capital to get reactors built and I’m highly confident we will achieve that goal,” Wright said to Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho).

High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) is necessary for deployment of advanced nuclear reactors, Wright said. The secretary of energy also said DOE allocated HALEU to five U.S. nuclear companies.

Nuclear power has a “huge runway” for growth in the energy sector, Wright said. He added, however, regulatory matters have been burdensome. Wright said the National Energy Dominance Council is working with businesses to overcome some regulatory hurdles.

“We’re trying to knock things over that are regulatory but I think some kind of congressional permitting reform is necessary as well,” Wright said in response to a question from Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas).

While developing new reactors was heavily discussed, spent nuclear fuel was another topic keyed in on by subcommittee members.

With the Trump administration leaning into nuclear energy, Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said the government has to address the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle. He asked Wright if he would work with the subcommittee to support funding from the DOE’s end to contribute to solving the country’s spent fuel situation, in which Wright agreed to the matter.

“We’re over 25 years late in our commitment as a government to start taking the [spent nuclear] fuel away,” Wright said to Levin.

Wright pushed for a “collaborative” approach with the states in figuring a solution for a repository for nuclear waste. With the country not having a current permanent repository for its spent fuel, Wright said he was open to the idea of spent fuel reprocessing. He said DOE is working on a study to evaluate the possible steps of moving forward with reprocessing.

“This is a resource, not a burden,” Wright said to Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) about spent fuel reprocessing.